Electrical connectors having coaxial contact structures are typically used to connect two coaxial cables to one another. A coaxial cable has an inner and an outer conductor member which share a common axis. Coaxial cables are often used in applications where it is desirable to operate at high frequencies while reducing the interference of a high frequency signal. For this reason, the outer conductor member of a coaxial cable will often serve as a shield for the inner conductor member which carries the signal. Alternately, the outer conducting member of a coaxial cable may be used to carry an additional signal.
The outer contact structure of a conventional coaxial electrical connector may have contact wires formed as a hyperboloid in order to improve the quality of electrical contact. For example, a method of manufacturing an electrical connector socket that includes a plurality of wires that form a hyperboloid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,527 (“the '527 patent”) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,107,966 to Bonhomme. In the '527 patent, the wires are disposed inside a tubular sleeve. The ends of the wires are folded over the respective ends of the tubular sleeve and onto an outer surface of the tubular sleeve. The tubular sleeve is slipped into a tubular piece so that the ends of the wires are wedged or pinched between the outside surface of the tubular sleeve at the ends of the tubular sleeve and an inside surface of the tubular piece.
The '527 patent describes forming an electrical connector socket having wires that form a hyperboloid. However, the method of manufacturing the electrical connector socket requires a press fit operation to ensure that the ends of the wires are held in place between the tubular sleeve and the tubular piece and to ensure that the wires maintain the hyperboloid formation. Therefore, the wires and/or the tubular sleeve is press fit into the tubular piece. However, it may be difficult to compress the solid, cylindrical tubular sleeve towards its axis.
In addition, in conventional electrical connector sockets such as the one shown in the '527 patent, two tubular pieces may be provided so that one tubular piece is inserted over the ends of the wires folded over one end of the tubular sleeve, and the other tubular piece is inserted over the ends of the wires folded over the other end of the tubular sleeve. As a result, the method of manufacturing the electrical connector socket may be expensive, complicated, and slow.